Monday, February 14, 2011

Two Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition members, Russ and Rachel, erected a tree-sit this morning to protest the FAU/Scripps Bio-technology development on the Briger Forest Tract. Law Enforcement have demand the tree-sitters to leave or risk imminent arrest. The two brave activist remain, who are also FAU Alumni, suspended 40 feet from the ground, holding banners that reads “Defend This Forest” and "La Tierra No Se Vende, Se Defiende."

The tree-sitters and their banner are visible from Northbound I-95, at the Donald Ross exit.

Russ and Rachel released the following joint statement: “As FAU graduates and Palm Beach County residents we are dismayed at the lack of protection for the Endangered Species on the FAU/Scripps development site. The Scripps “biotech city” plan promotes sprawl and will destroy endangered species located on the Briger Tract. We have tried legal means to protect the site, but the developers and politicians have ignored our concerns. If the state and county refuse to protect endangered species then we must take action to preserve the remaining natural beauty of Florida.”

In conjunction with the tree-sit, forty protesters converged at the existing FAU/Scripps Florida building. City of Jupiter and FAU campus police responded and briefly detained at least one person.

Earth First! activists plan to maintain a presence on the site to ensure no endangered species habitat is destroyed, and no animals are abused in the proposed vivisection labs.

DONATE - to help us support the tree-sitters with future bail and legal costs! Donations can be made via Paypal to "lynnejpurvis@gmail.com" or dropped off at the Night Heron Activist Center at 1305 Central Terrace Lake Worth

Palmdale, FL— Once again, the Earth First! movement will host its annual national Winter Rendezvous in the swamps of south Florida. This year it will be near the site of controversial Blue Head Ranch land in the Fisheating Creek watershed. The Creek and its headwaters straddle Glades and Highlands County, on the west side of Lake Okeechobee. The event will take place the weekend of February 11-14, 2011 just outside the town of Palmdale.

The local group, Everglades Earth First!, also hosted the national Rendezvous in 2008. The event resulted in a stand off at an FPL construction site across from the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in which the Sheriff arrested 26 people for a road blockade that shut down operations.

Why Fisheating Creek?
The Creek, which is the last wild waterway that flows to Lake Okeechobee, is prime habitat for the endangered Florida panther, as well as Black Bear and the emblematic Swallowtail Kite. The Fisheating Creek watershed, which is an important part of the northwest Everglades region, is under attack by proposals for development and industrialization.

Primary threats include the approval of massive land use changes for 50,000 acres of urbanization in a substantial part of Fisheating Creek's headwaters (Blue Head Ranch); plans to pump water from the Creek and turn the nearby Nicodemus Slough wetlands into a reservoir; and drawing down of the water table by Cemex's expansion of sand mines around the Creek. Other detrimental plans in the regional include massive infrastructure for development in southwest Florida, namely the Heartland Parkway, and plans for development on endangered Scrub Jay habitat on the nearby Lake Wales Ridge.

"This is one of the most magical places in all of Florida," says local Earth First! organizer Rachel Kijewski. "We can't let it fall victim to the greed and corruption that has swallowed so much of this state."

What is Earth First!?
Earth First! is an international movement which advocates for direct action, including civil disobedience and 'monkeywrenching' (sabotage), to confront local and global environmental problems. For 30 years, the movement has used high-profile protests to draw attention to critical issues for threatened ecosystems and endangered species. The group also calls attention to a biocentric worldview that rejects industrial capitalism and a centralized state in favor of local autonomy and bioregionalism.

While the movement began in the American southwest in 1980, the 80s also saw an Earth First! Presence in Florida, where activist-biologists were calling for wilderness corridors to protect
panther habitat across the state. Today, Earth First! has re-established itself across the peninsula, including a recent move of the Earth First! Journal publication in December 2010 from Arizona to
Lake Worth, Palm Beach County.

What happens at the Rendezvous?

The Winter Rendezvous is preceded by an organizers' conference, both of which take place in a primitive camping area and is attended by people from across the country. The weekend will feature various workshops and discussions of environmental and social justice themes, music (including an Outlaws of Florida Folk evening on Saturday) and a community kitchen for group meals. Camps often end with a group activity to highlight threats and impacts to local ecosystems and surrounding communities.

Sign the petition against Scripps expansion onto the Briger Tract

Why isn't DEP monitoring FPL's Carbon Emissions?

FPL plant at the headwaters of the Loxahatchee Refuge

New view thanks to FPL and DEP from Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) 1E on Southern Blvd/SR80 which was recently opened for public recreation. [click image for more photos]

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Contact us:

Send an email to get on our mailing list, send us photos for the site: PBCEnviroCoalition@gmail.com

Save Fisheating Creek!

After the long battle for public access, the Creek is now facing the threat of large-scale development in it's watershed, which is critical habitat for Florida Panther and Black Bear. No Blue Head Ranch! No more Cemex mining!

What DEP means to us..

For info on FPL's West County Energy Center...

Reclaiming Barley Barber swamp

Activists arrested fighting to re-open and protect Barley Barber from FPL still need your support

Old Growth Bald Cypress in Barley Barber

After the past 2 years of demanding accountability from FPL. WE WON a first step... Barley Barber is now re-opened to the public for tours. The next step is granting this waterway protection as "Waters of the State."

Everglades Earth First!

PBCEC supported Broward activists in fighting for the last remaining wildlands .. AND WE WON!

Protect South Florida's native rural landscape

High Horse Ranch, Indiantown.. Now threatened, along with dozens of ranches and wildlife areas, by a proposed (unnecessary) expansion of State Road 710.

"Welcome to the Everglades Uprising!"

a beautiful wildfire blazes across the Everglades Wildlife Management Area at sunset, in Broward County

a note on this webpage from PBCEC co-chair:

"With a healthy fusion of enthusiasm and skepticism, we have taken a small step towards establishing a consistent presence in the virtual world for the PBCEC. The site will contain a mixture of updates, announcements, meeting notes, calls to action, fund-raising pleas, and ranting from a local grassroots ecological perspective. Your feedback and input is valued, but please also keep this in mind (here is the 'skepticism' part):

Our power does not come from the internet, it comes from real-live actions, face-to-face support for each other at meetings and events and our physical presence in-the-face of ecological degradation..

So use this site as an opportunity to keep up with and support the PBCEC's efforts; but please do not use it as an excuse to keep yourself indoors staring at this electronic screen. In other words, i hope to see y'all out in the streets, where the real changes need to happen!"

from within the wild weeds of the saw-and-sea-grass roots,panagioti tsolkassept. 23, 2007

PBCEC fundraises at Moon Fest in West Palm Beach

High School Students Join PBCEC at Juno FPL Office

Save-a-Pet Gala, Lantana

Crist was a no-show, but we were there and got great coverage anyway...

www.Reef-Rescue.org

Old Growth Brain Coral in Horseshoe Reef, off Lake Worth beach

PBCEC was instrumental in turning public opinion against the failed Biotech Research Park...

We filed lawsuits that are still pending against political corruption in the Scripps land deals. We exposed the crooked corporate biotech agenda. And we intend to continue keeping pressure on Scripps in defense of the Briger tract and in support of animals' rights over bloated pharmaceutical profits.

PBCEC joins with Animal Rights Foundation of FL to confront Scripps

Keep West County WILD!

FPL's "Gateway to the Glades"

West County Energy Center units 1 and 2 in the Loxahatchee Basin, 1000 feet from the National Wildlife Refuge

Everglades Earth First! activists enter Barley Barber swamp

After 5 day stand-off with Sheriff, a group enters swamp; several chains themselves to trees and demand FPL re-open the swamp and admit impacts of hydrologic alterations

Watch the film trailer for "Don't Expect Protection" directed by Suki deJong

This short film, featuring members of Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition and Everglades Earth First! won "Best Short Green Film at the 2010 Delray Beach Film Festival"

Direct Action Gets the Goods!

Everglades Earth First! activists involved with PBCEC hang a banner on a billboard and over the side of a building on the southeast corner of Dixie Hwy. and Banyan in downtown West Palm Beach Monday afternoon to protest Callery-Judge and FPL developments. The protesters were there for nearly two hours before West Palm Beach police, with assistance from Palm Beach County firefighters, went up to remove them and carry them to jail. (Photo by Damon Higgins/PB Post)

PBCEC co-chair, panagioti tsolkas, gets arrested during rooftop protest downtown West Palm while sounding the alarm on Callery-Judge vote and FPL's sprawl-inspired power plant in western Palm Beach County. A day later, Callery-Judge was defeated in the County Commission. Litigation against FPL plant is still pending. Paul Revere would be proud... (Thanks to Damon Higgins/PB Post for photo)

Check out this piece of promotional material! Sorry FPL, it's not a very encouraging picture...

Tomorrow's plant may look more like a pile of rubble and a couple more federal indictments. And if we're to succeed in reducing our carbon emissions to level demanded to avert climate catastrophe, giant fossil fuel plants like FPL's Barley Barber pictured above will also have to go. It's time to wake up y'all...

This picture is from the FPL-owned Seabrook Nuke Plant, which had a recent accident...

The movement that successfully fought the nuclear industry 30 years ago, shutting down hundreds of proposed power plants across the world, must be revived against the fossil fuel giants--civil disobedience and all--if we are to avert the coming catastrophic climate change. The PBCEC will be hosting training to prepare for local civil disobedience protests locally.

Florida Carbon Emissions Chart

Governor Crist's Executive Order calls for an 80% reduction of CO2 emissions to below 1990 levels by 2050. This figure is taken from statistics based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC).

Activists in Virginia put their bodies on the line to stop dirty power...

PBCEC activists joined the blockade last year to take a stand against mountaintop removal and climate change, this coming February, PBCEC will support Everglades Earth First! in hosting the annual Winter Rendezvous here in South Florida.